Varnarmálaráðherrafundur NATO í Sevilla

On 8 and 9 February, NATO Defence Ministers met in Seville, Spain to discuss NATO’s operations, transformation and relations with Partners. At the opening session of their informal meeting on the first day, deliberations focused on NATO’s missions in Kosovo and Afghanistan.

On Kosovo, Ministers were unanimous in support of President Ahtisaari, UN Special envoy for Kosovo, and the process he is pursuing to resolve the Kosovo status question. Ministers stressed the need for a rapid conclusion to the process, and reaffirmed NATO’s intention to play its full role into the future – including a potential role in supporting the development of future Kosovar security structures. There was a also a strong call for stronger technical and political relations between NATO and the EU, in particular over Kosovo.

On Afghanistan, Ministers agreed that the fundamental NATO strategy remains sound: a robust military presence to support reconstruction and development, as part of a comprehensive international approach in support of the Afghan Government. Ministers discussed the balance and levels of NATO-ISAF in 2007, welcoming the recent announcements of substantial new contributions by Allies, which will bring NATO-ISAF to more than 35,000 forces. In discussions with Afghan Defence Minister Wardak, Ministers agreed that NATO and Afghan priorities were fully aligned, and Allies confirmed their intention to step up training and equipping of Afghan security forces.

Discussions on the second day centered on defence transformation, in particular the future roles and effectiveness of the NATO Response Force, as well as missile defence. Then, in the NATO-Russia Council, Russian Defence Minister Ivanov and his colleagues addressed defence cooperation between the 27 NRC members, for example defending against terrorism in the Mediterranean.

Finally, NATO countries and the seven countries in the Mediterranean Dialogue sat together, for the second time in Defence Ministers’ format, to discuss deeper, more practical cooperation in 2007, for example in the field of training.